History: Helen Elizabeth Pennypacker, 1906-1986, was born in Pennsylvania, USA. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1927 and worked for the YWCA. She also studied art at this time. She married James Morton Freeman in 1939. Mort, 1910-1982, was born in Lougheed, Alberta. He attended the Presbyterian College at McGill University, 1933-1938, graduating in theology, and received his master's degree in 1940 from the Union Theological Seminary in New York. The Freemans settled in Ontario and Mort worked as a Presbyterian minister. Both were active in the Fellowship for a Christian Social Order. The Freemans had twin sons, John, 1944-, and Ivan, 1944-2015. They moved to Cayley, Alberta in 1947 and Mort worked as a landscaper until his retirement. Due to Mort's poor health, Helen began teaching to help support the family. In 1955 they moved to Calgary. The Freemans helped organize the NDP in Calgary in 1961 and strongly supported the party. In 1966 the Alberta NDP published Mort's book, Biggest Sellout in History: Foreign Ownership of Alberta's Oil and Gas Industry and the Oil Sands. Helen was very active in the Voice of Women, an anti-war/anti-nuclear weapons group, and in the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament. For further information see Brian Brennan's "Tribute", Calgary Herald, April 26, 1994, p. B2.

Scope and Content: The fonds consists of correspondence, subject files, articles, newsletters, scrapbooks and resource materials used by the Freemans, predominantly in their NDP and Voice of Women work. Includes Mort's research files for Biggest Sellout.